Room type air conditioners typically have an indoor section and an outdoor section. The indoor section is responsible for cooling and dehumidifying the indoor room a while the outdoor section is responsible for exhausting heat into the outdoor environment. The indoor and outdoor sections each have a heat exchanger coil and a fan, and each has a return air opening and a discharge opening. A grill structure is normally installed over each section to prevent the entry of foreign objects, while allowing the free flow of air to and from the sections as well as for aesthetic consideration.
It is common practice to have associated with the indoor grill structure a filter element, through which the indoor air passing to the indoor coil must pass. Such a filter is designed to remove substantially smaller contaminants from the air than the indoor grill. Quite often the indoor grill must be removed from the air conditioner in order to gain access to the filter. Other air conditioners are known, which have a rectangularly shaped reusable filter which slides into a slot oriented above the inlet grill such that the filter may be installed or withdrawn from a location behind the grill and in front of the evaporator coil by vertically displacing the filter within the slot.
It is deemed desirable to have a filter assembly which easily slides into a slot provided in the indoor grill. It is also desirable to prevent the filter assembly from contacting and possibly damaging the fragile heat exchange fins of the evaporator coil as the filter is installed or removed from its mounting in an indoor grill.